German court upholds ban on PKK symbols, pictures of its ringleader

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) – Banning images of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed head of the PKK terrorist group, is in line with laws and regulations, a German regional court ruled on Monday.

The Higher Administrative Court in North Rhine-Westphalia turned down a complaint filed by a PKK-linked group, which claimed that the police’s prohibition of Ocalan posters during their meeting was illegal.

The court underlined that the PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, and is banned from operating in Germany, and therefore the images of its leader Abdullah Ocalan were not allowed to be used in certain meetings, in order to counter terrorist propaganda.

“Images of Abdullah Ocalan have an identifying function for the PKK,” the court stressed in its ruling, adding that Germany’s laws allow prohibiting public display of flags and badges, as well as images of people that are associated with a banned organization.

“The decisive factor is whether the association uses a symbol or image to identify itself and its purposes,” the court said.

“Such a ‘cult of personality’ exists in the PKK around Ocalan, in that the PKK continues to place him in the foreground as a leader and person of identification for itself and its goals.”

The court said the PKK was using various Ocalan posters for propaganda purposes, and in some of them, the terrorist leader was portrayed as a “fatherly, caring and peace-loving leader” in order to draw support from a wider group of people.

The PKK, classified as an "ethno-nationalist" terrorist organization by the EU's law enforcement agency Europol, has been banned in Germany since 1993.

However, it remains active in the country with nearly 14,500 followers among the Kurdish immigrant population, according to the German domestic intelligence agency BfV.

In 2017, Germany’s Interior Ministry updated its list of prohibited symbols used by the PKK, and added Ocalan's image to the list, after an investigation into the propaganda activities of the group.

Türkiye has long urged its NATO ally Germany to take stronger action against the PKK, emphasizing that the terrorist group uses the country as a platform for recruitment, propaganda, and fundraising activities.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people.